Widespread glitches and delays crippled the platform, locking nearly half of Calci’s traders out of their accounts during a surge in college football trading on Saturday.
Users attempting to place bets saw their orders get stuck and their balances disappear from the screen. According to CNBC, the website displayed only a spinning green “K” for nearly 20 minutes, leaving frustrated users stuck unsure whether their bets were successful or not.
One of them shared a screen recording with CNBC showing a frozen Kalsi dashboard and blank betting slips. In a message sent directly to users, the platform reportedly acknowledged that:
“Exchanges are experiencing temporary delays. Balances and positions may not be accurately reflected at this time.”
Kalsi subsequently apologized and said he was “investigating” an issue that caused traders to be unable to process orders or view open positions. Although the company later announced that the issue had been fixed, many X users called it “the longest 20 minutes in Calsi history.”
Kalsi denies outage as traders flood social media
After the unrest, Mr Kalsi issued a statement downplaying the scale of the unrest. “Earlier today, Karshi experienced a minor glitch that temporarily impacted the experience of some users. There were no exchange outages, no funds were affected, and the issue has now been resolved,” the company said. A spokesperson insisted that the exchange had never malfunctioned, stressing that there had been no impact on clearing or institutional trading. “There were several defects and delays in our web and app products that affected less than half of our user base,” the spokesperson added.
Still, screenshots and video clips showed otherwise. Some users were unable to access their balances, while others said their bets were delayed or not placed.
Just a week ago, Kalsi announced a $300 million Series D funding round, raising its valuation to $5 billion from $2 billion in June. The round was led by Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital, with support from Paradigm, Coinbase Ventures, General Catalyst, Spark Capital, and CapitalG.
Similar to crypto polymarkets, Kalsi has built a reputation for letting users trade on real-world events, from football scores to who President Donald Trump will pardon this year.
Massachusetts targets Kalsi in sports betting lawsuit
That business model is currently facing a major legal battle. In September, Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell charged Calci with offering unauthorized sports betting under the guise of an “event contract.”
“If Kalsi wants to be in the sports gaming business in Massachusetts, he must obtain a license and abide by the law,” Andrea Joy Campbell said in a statement. The state also asked the court to block the company from offering sports-related markets until the lawsuit is resolved.
Tension quickly spread. Robinhood has filed a lawsuit against the state of Massachusetts, saying it expects to be the next target because it allows customers to trade Karsi contracts. Robinhood warned that the state’s actions could result in “reputational damage and potential criminal or civil penalties.”
Mr. Kalsi argues that it is protected by federal regulations. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) treats event contracts as legal prediction markets, arguing that federal oversight should override state laws.
Massachusetts disagrees. The state said in a filing in Suffolk County Superior Court that Calci makes more money from sports betting than from licensed sportsbooks such as DraftKings and FanDuel.
“Sporting event wagers accounted for approximately 70% of Carsi’s trading volume from February 25, 2025 to May 17, 2025, and increased to approximately 70% of Carsi’s trading volume after March 18, 2025, the first day Kalsi offered a single-game March Madness market,” the complaint states. “Carsi made more money from sports betting than the licensed sports betting platforms DraftKings and FanDuel during the same period from February to May.”
